A World Without Courtship Rituals

by Mark SteynSteyn on FoxNovember 28, 2017

https://www.steynonline.com/8276/a-world-without-courtship-rituals

On Monday night I joined Tucker Carlson on Fox News to discuss Nancy Pelosi's train wreck of an interview re John Conyers, and the broader climate of relations between the sexes in this difficult time. Click below to watch:

For an example of what I meant by the "hyper-sexualization" of society, consider this approving piece in The New York Times:

Twenty years ago, when child beauty-pageant competitor JonBenet Ramsey was murdered, coastal sophisticates mocked flyover rubes for tarting up their grade-school daughters in powder and rouge. But, when your eight-year-old boy does it, it's a Times cover story. We're a horribly confused society where kids are sexualized and grown-ups can no longer say, "Why, Miss Jones, that new dress really suits you..."

If you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club and you disagree with me, feel free to shred me in the comments.

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117 Reader Comments

Kenneth Willis • Dec 3, 2017 at 11:58

When I was a boy, oh so many decades ago, any boy who came to school with feminine eye makeup would have been beaten up on the playground. Of course, I am speculating because when I was a boy nothing of the sort could have happened. All the boys yearned to be men.

Come to think of it, when I was a boy none of the girls wore eye makeup either.

Holly Birtwistle Kenneth Willis • Dec 4, 2017 at 18:52

Not all the boys Kenneth, about 94% of them. About 6% yearned to able to come out of the closet.

Reformed Reformer • Dec 2, 2017 at 05:39

We could just express our satisfaction that the boy in face paint can freely exhibit his bad taste, so that later in life, women will perhaps shun him and thereby remove him from the "gene pool."

Holly Birtwistle Reformed Reformer • Dec 4, 2017 at 18:49

He's just a kid being dramatic, who likes the attention. Probs grow out of it.

Andrew A • Nov 29, 2017 at 17:18

I always thought that the way to resolve the "war between the sexes" was to restore the strength, trust, and unity among members of the male sex. Be a mentor, teacher, and a good example to boys and younger men. Show respect and deference to older men. Accept your position in the male hierarchy and strive to be worthy of the respect of all other men.

This plan will work for young men because women are naturally attracted to men who have strong relationships with other men. The majority of women will accept it because men hesitate to mistreat women who are the daughters and sisters of men whom they respect.

The best part about this plan is that every man can start doing it right now and continue doing it for the rest of his life without any government funding, lobbying, legislation, debates, approval, and special permits. The feminists may loudly decry the return of the "Patriarchy", but their only choice will be to accept it or to flee back to their covens outside the village.

Holly Birtwistle Andrew A • Dec 3, 2017 at 01:21

Andrew, you think way to resolve the " war between the sexes" is to continue male dominance over women???The way to win the "war between the sexes" if you want to put it that way, is for men to treat women as equals.

John Wilson Holly Birtwistle • Dec 3, 2017 at 09:58

Holly, Andrew never once talked about men dominating women. He talked only about how men should relate to men. As a by-product of this, women will live in a much more secure world. I can't disagree with anything he said. I don't personally know any men who want to make war on women, rather they seem to like women and want to do things to please them. This attraction of the sexes is the glue that has held society together since the beginning.
The current unraveling of society seems to come as a result of people who want to bypass norms: 1) men who don't want to be bothered with the process of pleasing women and go straight to taking what they want, and 2) women who feel left out of the process and exhibit a disdain for all men and want to change the process itself.

Andrew A Holly Birtwistle • Dec 3, 2017 at 18:29

Not necessarily. It is just that "equal treatment" does not mean much by itself. One of the most attractive aspects of western civilization is that one does not need to "dominate" others to be safe, happy and successful. I do believe that the poor treatment of women by men can be remedied by men improving their relationships with other men, particularly with those that are "unequal". What good is it to a woman to be treated "as equals" by a weak or criminally violent man?

Holly Birtwistle John Wilson • Dec 4, 2017 at 19:15

John, I agree, I don't know any men who want to make war on women either. I was commenting on Andrew's phrase "war between the sexes"; a term in social use since the modern feminist movement began. It's not about attraction between the sexes, the issue I'm talking about is the historical inequality of women and men, economically, socially, and sexually. Society in my opinion is not unravelling, it is slowly improving through understanding, scientific progress, free speech, and time. Some men have always bypassed the process of pleasing women and gone straight for what they want. Thanks to women fighting for equality for many decades, violence against women is dropping. I think largely because men are slowly relinquishing power over women, and no longer turning a blind eye to dis-respect of women. I see a number of comments on this topic, in which men convey a yearning for the good old days of their youth, still not understanding that society is much better for women today, and still improving.

Holly Birtwistle Andrew A • Dec 4, 2017 at 19:33

Inequality between men and women results in dominance of men over women, because men value and respect women less in general. If you mean good men who see women as equals mentoring other men by" men improving their relationships with other men" then I agree with you.

Andrew A Holly Birtwistle • Dec 5, 2017 at 00:22

Holly,I'm not sure of the truth of the statement, "men value and respect women less in general."I doubt the importance of both equality and dominance in determining human affairs. The importance of these concepts have been grossly exaggerated by progressive and leftist propaganda.

Holly Birtwistle Andrew A • Dec 5, 2017 at 13:27

Black Americans, Women, and Homosexuals are examples of how important both equality and dominance are in determining human affairs.

Robert Rowe • Nov 29, 2017 at 15:36

Mr Steyn a question. I may be missing something from the perspective of living in the UK but how has Nancy Pelosi reached such a prominent position?

David Watson Robert Rowe • Nov 29, 2017 at 18:13

Not to intrude, but not sure if a Brit and a Canadian are the right mix to analyze west coast politics. "San Fran Nan" is from a very liberal suburb of San Francisco, where they're likely to pull the lever for similarly liberal candidates. She moved to leadership in the very liberal Democrat caucus in Congress by being very liberal. Probably not related that she was much prettier when she was younger, don't know if that was a consideration in the House of Lechery.

Robert Rowe David Watson • Nov 30, 2017 at 10:24

Not an intrusion. Thank you for the insight

Michael Bledsoe Robert Rowe • Dec 1, 2017 at 14:50

I don't know Mark's take on it, but politicians rise in the party ultimately in one way: they raise money. A representative or senator who is effective at raising money for the party will get the most coveted committee assignments and will be one selected to be the "public face" of the party. A couple of years ago someone leaked a list of how much money Democrat Representatives were expected to produce for the party based on committee assignments. There aren't a lot of shakedown opportunities if you're a member of, say, the Veterans Affairs committee. If you're the ranking member of the powerful Ways and Means committee (the committee in charge of tax writing) you'll come up with millions of dollars a year or expect to be replaced.

David Watson • Nov 29, 2017 at 14:21

With apologies to Mark's feline friends, and our feminine friends here and elsewhere, I'm reminded of the American poet Randy Newman who said "short people got no reason..." (Song of the week candidate? Much deeper than many realize!) If cats, or women, were equal to men, they'd be taller. Maybe they wish biology was different, but it really doesn't change to meet expectations of trending social mores. So courtship rituals might see superficial adaptations, just as we temper our instincts to take what we want. But the fundamentals won't change until human nature does - only our tactics change to maximize outcomes. The hysterics from the insecure, that some still submit to baser instincts, will pass. Normalcy will resume.

Charles Wascher • Nov 29, 2017 at 13:28

The war on women turned out to be an inside job ... who knew ...

Laura Rosen Cohen Charles Wascher • Nov 29, 2017 at 15:24

DING DING DING.

tug • Nov 29, 2017 at 06:06

"If it feels good, do it". Grew up a Kid of the 60's. Song lyric "why don't we do it in the road". Matured into telling an affectionate couple "Get a Room". We now legislate to let the ANOMALIES come out of the closet. Gary feels like Grace so he can shower with my 15 year old granddaughter after the soccer game. This isn't going to end well.

Kate Smyth • Nov 28, 2017 at 23:15

It appears that empowerment through the "Principle of Least Interest" is the guiding framework of the new norm: "transactional" in-person casual relationships on a background of virtual reality interactions, such that emotional abuse and manipulation (by both sexes) is arguably far more prevalent and damaging than physical abuse.

Added to that are the competing issues of the risk of sexual assault (for females, many of whom are mega-hyper-sexualised) versus the risk of false accusation (for males, who suffer guilt-by-allegation). Serious false allegations are on the rise in the setting of family breakdowns too, with women accusing spouses of domestic abuse and even marital rape to ensure custody of children.

Forget trust and enduring commitment: it's what you can get, and what you can get away with.

Mark's thesis about the increasing appeal of the strictures of a retrograde, deeply misogynistic and intensely puritanical "religion" makes bizarre sense. For women, at least, the defined boundaries of competing wives versus honour killing provide clear ground rules. Fifth-wave feminism and the five pillars!

Steven Payne • Nov 28, 2017 at 21:29

It should be noted that, in the NYT picture, the dog identifies as a cat.

Fran Lavery Steven Payne • Nov 28, 2017 at 22:38

The dog can identify as a feline all it wants, but until I have proof that it survived getting hit by a train, poisoning by lapping up motor oil, electrocution by toying with the empty light socket, trampling by a horse's hoof, being tossed into a in an icy pond, wandering into the dryer with the wet clothes, (okay, that's enough proof) then I'll believe it.

Steven Payne Fran Lavery • Nov 28, 2017 at 23:46

Fran, I assume you're the kind of person who would object to the dog being allowed to use a litter box? For shame.

siberianmo Steven Payne • Nov 29, 2017 at 10:39

Steven,

I may have missed something with this exchange - but Fran is hardly "the kind of person" you alluded to.

It is her right to keep her dog from her cat's litter box . . . no shame there.

Tom in Missouri

Susanna Fran Lavery • Nov 29, 2017 at 11:29

Fran, you are a riot. I wish you were my neighbor so we could toss back a few and you could teach me how to grow tomatoes.

Fran Lavery Steven Payne • Nov 29, 2017 at 12:38

I've been watching Greg Gutfeld maybe way too much. I can't pull off sarcastic humor like he can, sadly. (You wouldn't want to know what my dogs would do with a litter box! Not exactly the pack chez moi like the couple down the street have. Their four dogs are show border collies. The owner sends one out to pick up the morning paper every day. I'm shamed every time I see it. Still, the other morning, I noted that the Black Friday ads slipped out onto the gravel and the owner had to come scoop them up. That brought a wicked little smirk.
If I want to be lazy about walking down the driveway to get my paper, I would just ask my spouse kindly to get the paper, not the dogs. They're dukes and princesses around here.

BallBounces in Charlottetown • Nov 28, 2017 at 19:55

Back in March the National Post ridiculed VP Mike Pence for refusing to go to dinner with a woman unless his wife was present. The Post said his scruples were rape culture at work. So, evangelicals who honour boundaries and recognize their fallibilities (and the chance of false allegations) are enabling rape culture. Pence's position is looking better (and wiser) by the day. http://nationalpost.com/news/world/ashley-csanady-mike-pences-evangelical-reasons-for-refusing-to-lunch-with-ladies-is-easy-to-mock-its-also-rape-culture-at-work

Fran Lavery BallBounces in Charlottetown • Nov 28, 2017 at 21:28

I think i'm having a deja vu moment, ici!

Holly Birtwistle BallBounces in Charlottetown • Nov 28, 2017 at 22:07

100% BallBounces.

Susanna • Nov 28, 2017 at 19:51

Women MUST control sex and dating, not men. And by control sex and dating, I mean restore sex to marriage and act like ladies beyond reproach and deserving of white-glove treatment.

Feminists shot themselves in the foot when they started putting out like vending machines. Now women conform to men's sexual terms while congratulating themselves for achieving (false) sexual parity and freedom. And now, in desperation, they are trying to gain back control by crying "Rape!" after every regrettable hookup, while the real rape and assault victims can only cry into their pillows. It's a freaking mess.

Holly Birtwistle Susanna • Nov 28, 2017 at 22:36

So women can't have sexual freedom like men do? Sexual assault, rape, harrassment, is the result of male domination of women over the millenia. Women are not conforming to men's sexual terms any longer. Women are achieving, over the last century in our part of the world, equality with, and respect from, men. It's hard-won, because it requires men to share power with women. At last, even men in positions of power and authority over women are being called to account over sexual mis-conduct, with real consequences. Women cannot control sex and dating. Men have to control themselves, through respect for women. Have you not noticed there are no sexaully denigrating terms for men? Only for women. Terms likeslut, whore, prostitute, and the list is very long....This was so men can control and limit female sexual activity so their offspring is theirs, not another man's. What you are advocating is continued dis-respect and denunciation of women by men, which in turn entitles men to see women as not equals deserving of sexual respect and freedom.

Sol Cranfill Susanna • Nov 29, 2017 at 00:48

Susanna, your method will flush out creeps and draw out gentlemen. Seems very sensible.

Elizabeth Lorenz Holly Birtwistle • Nov 29, 2017 at 09:38

'Sexual freedom?' Promiscuity is a prison and abortion is a death sentence. The left peddles its putrid destruction of society in lying euphemisms. One in two sexually active persons will contract and STD by age 25. The CDC estimates about 20 million new STD infections occur every year, half of those are in people between ages 15 and 25. CDC estimates that undiagnosed STDs cause infertility in about 24,000 women each year. The total estimated cost of STDs in the US annually is $16 billion. CDC estimates are usually conservative as they're based on reporting. There are plenty of people who contract STDs who never seek healthcare because of shame or ignorance.
Nature is conservative.

Susanna Holly Birtwistle • Nov 29, 2017 at 10:36

Holly, there's no such thing as sexual freedom outside of marriage. You seem to refer to sexual license, which men can have in abundance these days--precisely because women allow it. For a woman to match this license, she must first subdue her natural instincts, then she must either chemically or surgically alter her biology. Hardly freedom.

Susanna Sol Cranfill • Nov 29, 2017 at 11:31

Learned it the hard way, ya know? ;-)

Elizabeth Lorenz Susanna • Nov 29, 2017 at 11:40

Susanna, thanks! I couldn't have said it better.

Sol Cranfill Elizabeth Lorenz • Nov 29, 2017 at 12:05

The Tinder dating app has an "STD locator" feature. I imagine the commercial go something like this:

After your next lunchtime romance with a stranger, why not start the next step immediately by finding out if he brought a few friends with him? Could it be crabs, or maybe something more exotic sounding? Something with a hard to spell name, like ghonorrhea? The possibilities are endless. If you're dying to know which organisms you will be living with for the rest of your life, before they kill you, get Tinder with STD locator, and you'll know!

Elizabeth Lorenz Sol Cranfill • Nov 29, 2017 at 12:40

Sol, ha ha! That's great!

Laura Rosen Cohen Elizabeth Lorenz • Nov 29, 2017 at 15:27

"Promiscuity is a prison and abortion is a death sentence." Well said. Truly succinct and accurate.

Holly Birtwistle Elizabeth Lorenz • Dec 1, 2017 at 18:27

Promiscuity certainly isn't a prison for men; nor is a prison for women. Anti-biotics cure all types of diseases, contracted various ways. I think expecting h Man brings to be celebrate until marriage is unrealistic and unnecessary. Abortions are way down due to availability of contraception. Eventually technology will prevent unwanted pregnancies from happening at all. Eventually there will be vaccines for all the STD's.

Holly Birtwistle Susanna • Dec 1, 2017 at 18:34

I don't agree with your assessment. Men have always had sexual license. Women were deprived of that by men and women who shamed them ir worse, as still happens in many countries if the world. Thank goodness women in the civilized West have the same sexual freedoms as men, which is essential for equality between the sexes. I don't understand what you mean by" women must subdue her natural instincts or surgically alter their biology". Women have healthy libidos.

Elizabeth Lorenz Holly Birtwistle • Dec 1, 2017 at 19:14

Holly, I don't know where you get your information. There are multi drug resistant strains of gonorrhea and syphilis now. AIDs, HPV and hepatitis are viruses which can't be cured using antibiotics, I'm an RN. I've witnessed first hand the surgical removal of most of women's cervixes because of exposure to HPV. The current gardasil vaccination is incubated in aborted fetal tissue and has a high risk of negative reaction. It only covers a limited amount of strains in a disease that has more than 40 strains that infect the female genital tract. Abortions are way down because younger generations are increasingly against this disgusting way to prevent the responsibilities involved with sex. Vaccines for gonorrhea and syphilis? Don't you think if there were vaccinations readily available for bacterial infections they would all over the market by now?Vaccinations incubated in aborted fetal tissue have been linked to health risks especially in children.http://soundchoice.org/aborted-fetal-products/

http://soundchoice.org/autism/

The demented thinking that allows for the murder of babies for the sake of convenience will eventually lead to the consumption of the product of that abortion. It's a sick and revolting psyche that finds this sort of thing attractive.

Holly Birtwistle Elizabeth Lorenz • Dec 2, 2017 at 13:43

I get my information various ways, same as everyone else. I have a science degree (biochemistry and microbiology) and I'm up to date on anti-biotics and vaccines. Both are improving all the time, perfection doesn't happen overnight. Your main issue surrounds abortions. It's a difficult issue , but it's up to individual women to decide, not others. Thankfully, the need for abortions is continually dropping, and eventually abortions will be zero, and this issue will no longer exist. Abortions are not way down because" younger generations are increasingly against this disgusting way to prevent the responsibilities involved with sex". They are way down because the stigma of extra-marital sex for women has been removed, and contraceptive use is the norm now, not an indication poor morals.

Elizabeth Lorenz Holly Birtwistle • Dec 2, 2017 at 16:27

yeah, right. Try going to the March for Life and compare the hundreds of thousands of young people marching for an end to the deaths of their cohort and the dwindling number of aging boomers sprinkled with a few abrasive and unattractive younger leftists marching for killing babies. My children's generation are discovering that they've been sold an ugly bill of goods on all fronts and they don't want anything to do with it. If a woman doesn't want a baby she should have the integrity to refrain from unprotected sex. No matter how you try to justify it, there is no acceptable time to murder a baby.
Nature never changes. Bacteria and viruses mutate faster than we can find cures. Having a science degree doesn't make you an expert unless you're working in a related field. I get the feeling from what you put down here that you're limiting your research to what you're comfortable with. Read the research that I cited above and add that to your lexicon.

Holly Birtwistle Elizabeth Lorenz • Dec 3, 2017 at 01:47

Bacteria and viruses mutate faster than we can find cures? Polio? Smallpox? Measles? Diptheria?Hepatitis? Meningitus? Chicken pox? Papilloma virus? Tuberculosis? Dengae Fever? Aids? All cured with vaccines, some for 60 years. Antibiotics still work 99% of the time. If a man doesn't want a son or daughter he should refrain from unprotected sex. Oh wait, not his problem, he gets off the hook - only women have to care. Seems fair.You don't need to be an expert to form an opinion on well-known social issues. Abortion is a personal issue, not a social issue, and its fast becoming a non-issue, as unwanted pregancy rates are dropping.

Susanna Holly Birtwistle • Dec 4, 2017 at 11:45

Holly,

By natural instincts, I mean women's age-old inclination to monogamy. When I say they must chemically or surgically alter their biology, I'm talking about birth control and abortion. If your goal is sexual equality, then you have to admit that women concede a disadvantage right out of the gate by manipulating their hormones (with well-known links to cancer), inserting dangerous foreign objects into their bodies (IUDs are notorious for causing infection and infertility), submitting to tubal ligation (no babies, ever), and failing all that, killing their own pre-born babies to achieve parity with men. Meanwhile, men "eat and run." That ain't equal.

Sure, women have healthy libidos, but all appetites must be governed more than indulged (witness the obesity epidemic and the credit crises), and for eons women have governed sex, mostly by consigning it to marriage. Women as a whole don't truly desire sexual license, though you may have been led to think that by modern feminists, so it's a bit silly to say we've been "deprived of it." It's true that in some godawful places, women are punished brutally and cruelly for doing the same things Western women do while men get away unscathed, and that is a gross injustice. But here in the West, women and society have not always so capriciously granted men sexual license--not like we do today.

Let me give you a real-life example. I know an absolutely beautiful, luminous, sweet, smart, stylish, educated young woman. She fell in love and moved in with the fellow. When her sexual equalizer, the Pill, failed her, he presented her with an ultimatum: "Get an abortion or I bail." She chose life; he left. Now she and her infant son live with her parents, while he's moved on to the next girlfriend and the next stage of his career. She is set back financially and socially. He charges on ahead.

There is only sexual freedom in marriage, where both share the stakes--and where sex isn't a game or a power play but an expression of love with the beautiful possibility of children. Not the dread of children.

It sounds like you're young, Holly. I hope you don't learn this the hard way. The Sexual Revolution may have banished the "shame" you seem kind of hung up on, but it has destroyed the courtship rituals Mark talks about and the precarious give-and-take balance between men and women. It has sucked all the mystique and intrigue out of romance and dating. Worst of all, it has destroyed marriage, it has destroyed families, and it's destroyed an inestimable number of lives.

Holly Birtwistle Susanna • Dec 4, 2017 at 20:29

Susanna,Why have WOMEN had to chemically or surgically achieve contraception??? Because men have historically done all the research in this field, and they are squeamish about submitting to the same treatment. Many men do, later in life, submit to vasectomies, to avoid having more children. Birth control pills no longer have links to cancer that was rectified long ago, by reducing the amount of hormones in the pills. Contraceptive pills are also useful for treating polycystic ovaries and other problems. IUD's used to cause a small percentage of infection/infertility; I don't think they are in common use anymore. Tubal ligation is an option if you don't want any more children. Women don' t have abortions to achieve parity with men. It's simply an option.
I agree that all appetites should be governed, and that's common sense. Women are all different, and they should have freedom of choice in their personal sexual lives. That includes having an abortion, or not.I believe the LAW mandates a man contributes financially to the raising of a child that he fathered, until that child is an adult. He cannot avoid his responsibility, thanks to the work of feminists and others. Sex before marriage can lead to an unplanned pregnancy; it's a low risk and steadily dropping, eventually to zero. But that's not a reason for women not to be allowed to have sex before marriage, in my opinion.I am not young, I'm 59. The difference between you and I is that I'm not religious. I see these Issues through a lens of fairness and equality.

Susanna Holly Birtwistle • Dec 5, 2017 at 12:01

There are a lot more differences between you and me than just degrees of religiousness. I'd say we have an altogether different take on the very definitions of "fairness" and "equality," not to mention what constitutes a "personal choice."

Apologies for addressing you as younger than me; I hope that didn't come off as condescending.

Denyse O'Leary • Nov 28, 2017 at 17:12

A world without courtship rituals is one in which sex is simply a temporary power relationship. Courtship rituals exist where sexual assault/false accusation, etc., are forbidden and relationships are long term. That's the point of the game!

Courtship rituals? Praise, gifts, entertainment, offers to share one's wealth, declarations that the suitor will die without the beloved, offers to bring a string of horses or the head of a known enemy of the tribe - if that is what it takes to convince her dad (traditionally, these ritual declarations have been aimed at the beloved's father as much as at her).

But do guys need to convince anyone today? The government they pay taxes to just picks up the pieces anyway? Maybe Dad is long gone and wouldn't care who his daughter ended up with. Rehab and therapy will take care of it all.

Sexual liberation costs more than we sometimes realize. It costs meaning.

Holly Birtwistle Denyse O'Leary • Nov 28, 2017 at 19:58

Denyse, these rituals are aimed at the Dad? In the past yes. Mom's had no say, no respect. That's the paternalistic/ male dominance world we in the civilized modern world have left behind. Women are in the process of achieving sexual liberation and equality with men, but we aren't quite there yet with men who are in positions of power. The current stream of accusations of sexual mis-conduct of men in power is unprecedented and far over-due. Men in positions of power over women are the last bastian women need to knock down to stop sexual predation of women. I don't agree sexual liberation costs meaning. It's quite straight-forward what it means - the end of in-equality and mens' respect of women sexually and otherwise. It doesn't mean the end of chivalry or courtship between men and women. Times and customs are always changing, from one generation to the next.

James McNicholas Holly Birtwistle • Nov 29, 2017 at 03:01

'Men in positions of power are the last bastion women need to knock down to stop sexual predation of women.'

Is your position then that men should not be permitted to occupy positions of power, which should presumably therefore be reserved for women? Is that justified in your view because women are less likely to abuse men in reverse, or perhaps because that matters less (to you)?

Or perhaps you think that hierarchy of all kinds should be abolished? I am trying to imagine how an infantry battalion without hierarchy would have fared at Normandy, or Verdun, or Agincourt for that matter.

And when the warlock-hunt has removed all the old men from their bastions of power and privilege, the innocent along with the guilty, and terrified all the young men sufficiently that they refuse to be in a room alone with a women, what then? What will your Brave New World actually look like?

It will look like nothing.

Nothing at all, because any society (or sector within a society), in which men are too timid and women too angry to associate, will die within one generation; and there are other demographic groups than yours, less concerned with sexual liberation, who are ready to step up and fill the space, which you will leave.

Holly Birtwistle James McNicholas • Dec 1, 2017 at 18:54

James, not sure why you are interpreting my comments as meaning "men shouldn't be in positions of power; of course they should. They should just stop using that power to extort sex from women whom they have power over. There isn't a warlock hunt on. Women are finally speaking up about this problem which is widespread among men in power. It may seem to you that men in general are being villified, but that is not the case. The vast majority of men in our civilized society, powerful or not, would not sexually harass or harm a woman, in my opinion. None of the scenarios you describe above will happen, the issue isn't about women dis-empowering men, its about stopping sexual abuse by men in positions of power over women - and over men, in Spacey's case.

James McNicholas Holly Birtwistle • Dec 2, 2017 at 12:09

Holly, you wrote: "Men in positions of power over women are the last bastion women need to knock down to stop sexual predation of women".

I understand you to mean that in order that sexual predation against women is stopped, men, who are in positions of power over women, need to be knocked down. You did not say that men in positions of power who abuse women should be brought to justice, a sentiment with which I entirely agree, but rather that men in positions of power over women need to be knocked down. That is a much broader statement which frames, deliberately or otherwise, the workplace power relationships between men and women as in need of redress, in order that men be disempowered. With that sentiment I disagree.

Holly Birtwistle James McNicholas • Dec 2, 2017 at 13:47

James, you are mis-interpreting what I meant, I should have written it more clearly. I don't mean men in positions of power need to be knocked down. As you rightly say, they need to be brought to justice.

Matthew McWilliams • Nov 28, 2017 at 16:25

I look at this kid in his eye make-up, lipstick and (I'm guessing) some kind of powder on his cheeks, and I'm thinking to myself; who exactly would think that this is attractive, clever or trendy, or anything other than just plain weird?

The only people I can think of that would find this in any way a good idea are certain men in South Asia, and perhaps their North American counterparts who've emigrated.

Fran Lavery Matthew McWilliams • Nov 28, 2017 at 21:09

Don't you think they're just channeling some rock star from Mars? Didn't every normal American kid at some point want to look like Ziggy Stardust? If I have to fingerpoint, i'd probably go back to Mick and Bowie, well, there were a bunch of 'em. I thought they were all geniuses. All "sujets" of Her Royal Majesty, no?

Elizabeth Lorenz Matthew McWilliams • Nov 28, 2017 at 23:40

When the left has finished destroying the innocence of children and the sacredness of life there will be nothing left worth defending in this country. Maybe that was the idea all along.
If all women are cheap and children have been perverted who would bother risking his life to defend that?

siberianmo Elizabeth Lorenz • Nov 29, 2017 at 10:17

Elizabeth,

Your 2-cents is well worth spending!

I for one am in league with your thoughts.

Tom in Missouri

Susanna Elizabeth Lorenz • Nov 29, 2017 at 11:32

Nailed it.

Elizabeth Lorenz siberianmo • Dec 2, 2017 at 16:28

Thanks! :) I'd hit the smiley face icon if there was one.

Elizabeth Lorenz Susanna • Dec 2, 2017 at 16:29

Thanks! The feeling is mutual.

Joseph Adler • Nov 28, 2017 at 16:22

Unrelated to this specific post: Will Mark comment on the Wilfrid Laurier/Lindsay Shepherd/Jordan Peterson story?

Sol Cranfill Joseph Adler • Nov 28, 2017 at 17:36

He did comment briefly a week ago to say he'd been discussing the Shepherd audio that morning and it reminded him of Milan Kundera.

Sol Cranfill Joseph Adler • Nov 28, 2017 at 17:41

He called it "full-blown Milan Kundera territory" to be precise.

Simon Brockwell • Nov 28, 2017 at 16:00

Dear Mark,

Your observation re the disdain "flyover rubes" dressing up their Jon Benet Ramsay-girls for beauty pageants vis-a-vis the NYTImes extolling "teenaged boys and younger" using make-up puts me in mind of a current oddity that bothers me. There is a Don Cheadle produced and starring TV series called "House of Lies", which is a clever, well-written, satire on contemporary Management Consultants. Don Cheadle plays chief protagonist, management consultant, Marty Kaan and the series is based on a book written by former management consultant, Martin Kihn. What is odd is that Don Cheadle's son Roscoe is "gender fluid", in reality, this means he dresses unusually and wears make-up. As he becomes a peri-teen then teenager he proves to be unambiguously heterosexual.

I ask myself: "What is the purpose of the scriptwriter's making Roscoe supposedly 'gender fluid'?". It adds nothing to the dynamic of the plots and sub-plots, nothing to the character of Roscoe other than making him seem "edgy" in the most superficial way. It is as almost if the show's producers and writers have decided "Well, we don't have any gay characters in the show (there isn't one in the book the TV series is based on) and it wouldn't work to insert one into the management consultancy world, we'd better do something to mollify Hollywood Gaydom for not having a gay major character and/or in some other way signal that we're down with the gay-normative program - lets make Marty's son gender-fluid!"

The trouble with doing so, in an otherwise clever and amusing program, is that it sends a message to children that one sure fire way to advertise your 'individuality' and 'express yourself' is for a boy to dress as a girl and a girl to dress as a boy. Whereas a better and more genuine way for a black (or white) kid to express their individuality in LA in the C21st would be to, say, speak grammatical English and refrain from using the ridiculous word "motherf****r".

James McNicholas • Nov 28, 2017 at 14:58

We appear to have a perfect storm.

Young women with a very real fear of actual sexual predation, men with a real fear of false accusation, campus SJWs imagining abuse where it doesn't exist, affirmative consent, commodification of sex, and the dissociation of sex from emotional intimacy; and of course the disintegration of marriage and the nuclear family.

To this, we should not forget, will shortly be added, sex robots, which will become increasingly difficult to distinguish physically from human beings; perhaps one day even passing the Turing test.

In the absence of any religious imperative, would it then be a surprise if the next generation in the West is actually the last generation in the West, choosing simply to dispense with sexual contact entirely? The seductive ideology of transhumanism tells them that they may in fact live forever anyway, so why propagate?

Will they come to regard real sex with the same revulsion shown by the citizens of Peter Lenkov's dystopian future in the 1993 movie Demolition Man?

And will anyone care, or look up from their iPhones for long enough to notice?

Cliff Hadley James McNicholas • Nov 28, 2017 at 19:58

What you posit is already happening in Japan, where 40 percent of young people there have zero interest in sex. This won't end well.

Fran Lavery James McNicholas • Nov 28, 2017 at 21:00

The world needs ugly smelly people to make a comeback! There won't be much sexual predation going on then. Then a lot of the problems in the world will be solved and we can just return to the good old days of lust, debauchery and killing for the sake of it. You think I'm joking? People need to just be people again. Warts, fat belies, mirthmaking and all that good stuff that got us here.

siberianmo Fran Lavery • Nov 29, 2017 at 10:15

Fran,

With my nose pinched tight - the smelly aspect would not work for me.

I can handle ugly, warts, fat bellies and the like - given the hour of the night when lust and debauchery rises to the fore, or at least once did.

I get your point - but be careful what you wish for though as the offspring of such intimacies may not be the 'good' people we wish to replace us. Environment does play a part in socialization, attitudes, et al.

See you on Email.

Tom in Missouri

Alex Baldor • Nov 28, 2017 at 14:49

This decadence is playing into the hand of Islam that has a simple but effective antidote to this as the following new report dated July 5 of this year shows.A male model was reportedly brutally stabbed to death in Iraq over his appearance. The Institute of Fine Arts student, who was also an actor and a model, was found covered in stab wounds on Palestine Street to the north of the capital, according to Iraqi News. His body reportedly showed signs of torture. Mr Nushi was a Shia Muslim and was said to be preparing for a male beauty pageant before his death.
I wonder if the fight to preserve the ideas of western society is worth the human and financial resources that is being spent on it when the western society goes full steam ahead to self-destruction.

Fran Lavery Alex Baldor • Nov 28, 2017 at 20:45

Definitely! What's our alternative? There's still a good bunch of us out here who want grandchildren, and a lot of them, dammit, and at this point I could care less if they're white, black, red or yellow. I just have two, ages three and one. I met an LDS older gentleman at a wedding a couple of years ago. Talking about my new grandchild was super fun, and when I asked the ages of his, he said he had fifty-two, like Heinz! And 7 great-grand kids. The Morman Church is not holding back. Maybe they have something we need to learn. Missions are going all over the planet, okay, not into Muslim nations, but they're going Sweden and Norway, Germany and Great Britain. There's a start!

The "gender" term drives me batty, too. I once had a conversation with a fella about women in general, and I said, "I hate to speak ill of my own sex, but ..." and the poor guy thought I was referring to my activity behind closed doors, not all females. It was terribly awkward.

I guess "gender" is a more convenient word to employ when you're trying to manipulate the immutable nature of chromosomal sex. It has an airier quality.

Mark replies:

"Gender" is for your French nouns. Aside from anything else, this abominable word ruins the fun we schoolboys used to have with official forms - Name, Date of Birth, and then:

As one who participated in the mating-game, married father of three (with two bona fide males in the trio), I witnessed what I believe was the beginning of "it."

First came the long hair - Beatles look - for the boys; one of mine included. Unfortunately for the other, he had blonde kinky hair, so he preferred a "fro." Hair was the "thing" back then - I termed most of it "girl hair," but was further constrained by the need for family harmony.

Then came pierced ears - just got to fit in, dontchano? - and Pop (that was me) screwed himself into the ceiling.

Somewhere in between the hair and the ears came dolls for boys; GI Joe, Action Jackson come to mind along with all of the changes of apparel (gear, I believe was the word). My sons playing with dolls?!?!?!?

After all of that, they were pretty well off on their own as the necklaces and other "bling" initially-designed-for- females came into vogue for the opposite sex - only two genders back then.

I will refrain from getting into the "in my day" rant, but will say that "man overboard" most probably would have been ignored if the gender was mis-identified.

Tom in Missouri

Sol Cranfill siberianmo • Nov 28, 2017 at 14:59

Tom, reading this is as refreshing as this morning when I heard the slightly gravelly voice of a veteran standing behind me at the post office describing to someone the halting of some activity that was a part of his military stint in Hawaii that happened "when Truman gave the freeze order." To hear that come out of someone's mouth sounded like the cavalry coming to the rescue.

Fran Lavery siberianmo • Nov 28, 2017 at 20:33

I can hear the mates calling out "man overboard"! You, Captain: Is it a "he-man" or is it a "she-man"? Mates: it's a He-oh-she-no-it's a, a, she-it, man! Gone-zo, as the Captain says!

Holly Birtwistle siberianmo • Nov 28, 2017 at 22:06

Are you sure you refrained from an "in my day" rant? Trust the youth of today. They are fine, despite what the media is saying...

siberianmo Holly Birtwistle • Nov 29, 2017 at 09:42

Holly,

Great name for this time of year!

Nope - hardly a rant; just reflections from one who has been there done that in an era long gone.

Trust today's youth and they are fine despite what the media is saying?

I trust what my observations and they are as positive as once were.
In saying that, I know for sure that my elders felt the same way about my generation . . . and wheel goes 'round and 'round.

Media? Please give me more credit than having any sort of faith in their oh-pin-yuns.
I pride myself on making judgements based on much more than anecdotal BS.

Appreciate your 2-cents.

siberianmo Fran Lavery • Nov 29, 2017 at 09:45

Fran,

Good for a grin . . .

Once overboard though, does not matter what the gender - the denizens really do not care.

Tom in Missouri

siberianmo Sol Cranfill • Nov 29, 2017 at 10:09

Sol,

The mere mention of a gravelly voice brings to mind - in quick order - the barkings from my boot camp Petty Officers who literally whipped us into shape for those 13 weeks of hell.

The 1951 order you referred to has an opening I will not forget:

"The initial success of these orders in accomplishing their purposes for the good of all will require sacrifice and a high degree of self-restraint."

Wow - it has been far too long to hear those words from a President and then as citizens do our respective parts to oblige. Yeah - that freeze order held impact.

Appreciate your bringing that back to the frontal lobes.

Tom in Missouri

Holly Birtwistle siberianmo • Dec 1, 2017 at 19:22

I over-reacted Mo, your opinions are of great interest and value to me. And yes, I know your judgements are based on knowledge and observation, and critical thinking, not anecdotal BS. Which is why I value them so much, on the wide range of topics Mark brings up.

siberianmo Holly Birtwistle • Dec 2, 2017 at 08:33

Holly,

Isn't it refreshing to find so many, who are for the most part, civil and amenable to exchange oh-pin-yuns sans rancor? Only at the Club!

Best,

Tom in Missouri

Holly Birtwistle siberianmo • Dec 2, 2017 at 13:50

Yup, Mo.

Laura Rosen Cohen • Nov 28, 2017 at 12:40

Bring back the dance card, I say!!! That's one of my go-to expressions, and most people just look at me blankly when I ask "so what's on your dance card today".

I was clearly born in the wrong era.

siberianmo Laura Rosen Cohen • Nov 29, 2017 at 10:53

Laura,

Pencil me in!

Tom in Missouri

Laura Rosen Cohen siberianmo • Nov 29, 2017 at 13:20

Tom,

For you: ink and quill.

siberianmo Laura Rosen Cohen • Nov 29, 2017 at 14:59

Laura,

Ben Franklin I'm not . . . but the appetite is still there!

Dance 'til dawn sounds fine to me.

Tom in Missouri

P. Gao • Nov 28, 2017 at 12:01

There's another long-term issue. The young men form a nation's self-defense. The more boys in a generation are groomed to be weak, the less ground defense a nation has. It's not just a problem of social squabbling resulting from trying to pretend to make some 'gender' that doesn't actually exist in reality, the vapid assertion that 'clothes make the whatever' How shallow in intellect is that? The Communists told the youth in China that a lab coat could make one a doctor. Easy! No education required, just the 'attitude' of medical authority.

Currently, the ridiculous nutrition confusion in the US makes weak civilians and feeds soldiers to flabbiness, while absurd weight-lifting obsessions to fill bored time produce soldiers that look like action-figures - massive upper-body on little legs - top-heavy and clumsy. Body-building muscle is more show than useful. So, when one hears the descriptions 'soft' it's physically evident.

In contrast, a child raised on the street or farm even if slender is noticeably 'heavy' and 'hard' to the touch. Without strenuous work and good nutrition, the body is actually soft to the touch, the bones weak and thus easily broken. Two decades of not building the bones and muscles cannot be fixed in a few months of boot camp. Genghis Khan's army used to round up the many 'softs,' - crowd them up against the sieged-city walls and ride over them, using the bodies as moat-fill so they could reach the walls.

Holly Birtwistle P. Gao • Nov 28, 2017 at 23:42

So there were many soft-bodied young men in Ghengis Khan's time too? Well, Thanks to Ghengis Khan, we know what to do with them in the event we need to go to war.

Definitely an area of convergence, and throwing gays/trans under the bus will be next. It has already started, as some very brave alpha male gay men and women in Europe are pointing out at great personal risk.

Holly Birtwistle Alan Davis • Dec 2, 2017 at 13:52

Alan, I challenge to find one single person, other than a pedophile, who accepts NAMBLA.

Calvert Whitehurst • Nov 28, 2017 at 10:53

One factor in the degeneration of Western society is that progressive activism has gradually transitioned from a calling to a career and source of notoriety. So it's no longer enough to say that boys who are effeminate, awkward or timid should not be bullied, but should be accepted for what they are and allowed to come to terms with themselves as they reach adulthood. Instead, celebrity activists encourage misguided mothers and teachers to push these boys into becoming counterfeit girls and - if the kid in the above photo is any indication - parodies of femininity. Like every other aspect of degeneracy, there's money in it - in the case of transsexualism, for counselors and therapists; surgeons; hormone manufacturers; cosmetics companies; and the whole legion of lawyers and activists pushing for the normalization of the abnormal.

Alan Davis Calvert Whitehurst • Nov 28, 2017 at 11:47

Rites of Passage developed on all six continents. Unless a hormonal teen was ritualistically humbled, he would never use his power for the benefit of all. Is it a deeply spiritual, communal enterprise? You bet. To properly do it, you need spiritually healthy elders.

Boys instinctively know this - in the absence of true initiation, they will pseudo initiate via sports/frat/military. Civilization also-collapse-wise, we don't have men, let alone elders. But uninitiated boys run around pretending to be men. The privileges of adulthood have regrettably been granted to all.

As I read Mark's commentary on "Murder on the Orient Express", I found myself saying (yet again) that this generation of actors, some of whom are skillful craftsmen - Johnny Depp in particular - all have to ACT like men, because they don't have a reservoir of Manhood that they can draw from.

Richard Widmark was a man who could act, Depp has to fake it.

Sol Cranfill Alan Davis • Nov 28, 2017 at 13:34

Good observations. Further to your point, if you've seen Pirates of the Caribbean, Depp brought eyeliner, spooked timidity and mincing steps to a rugged pirate role.

John Shuba • Nov 28, 2017 at 10:51

In a way I agree with some of the nuttier feminists when it comes to the relations between the sexes. Since the dawn of time one of the most powerful and potentially destructive forces in society is the male sex drive. Once young men hit puberty the "hunt is on" for gratification. This has always presented the threat of violent societal disruption particularly in small ancient communities struggling for survival. As a result every successful culture for the last three or four thousand years have painstakingly created customs, traditions, rules and strategies to deal with "young men on the prowl." (Usually culminating with marriage.) However the "sexual revolution" destroyed what it took centuries to build and did it in a snappy period of just fifty years. Courtship rituals and those old square reactionary "family values" served to control male sexual aggression and keep women comparatively secure. Not only are the old rules gone, they are violently condemned. So in a way, who can blame Harvey Weinstein, Bret Ratner or some predatory Congressman for going out and "getting his?" The "quaint" customs of restraint, chivalry and decorum which men internalized for so long are completely out the window. And they aren't coming back. I agree with Mark - It's a very depressing prospect.,

Holly Birtwistle John Shuba • Nov 28, 2017 at 21:14

Respectfully disagree John. The sexual revolution has not destroyed family values or courtship rituals. I see good family values and romance everyday. It has brought the on-going sexual objectivisation and inequality of women endemic to "customs, traditions, rules", etc.over the centuries into the light and is ending it. Does this reduction of male traditional power over women cause disruption to "social norms"? Yes. But it is a necessary re-adjustment, and we will reach an equilibrium in time. I think the New York Times story is an anomaly, not a sign that sexual identities are evolving rapidly. This story is just part of the on-going media over-focus on fringe gender identities, and does not represent society at large.

Holly Birtwistle John Shuba • Nov 28, 2017 at 21:51

I am going to be the contrarian today. I think that the story in the NYT is an anomaly, not representative of society at large. It is the continuation of the media over-focus on fringe gender identities, which has encouraged a few egotistical "progressive" parents to "push" their children " to be who they are", when they are too young to be deciding. That photo of the young boy makes me just as uncomfortable as the ones of little girls "tarted up" for beauty pageants. It is inherently disturbing to see children sexualized, and I don't think society at large thinks its ok to sexualize children. Are there fringe sexual identities? Yes. They are homosexual (6% of humanity, and is roughly the same distribution through-out the world), and other gray-areas like trans-gender, bi-, queer, etc in smaller percentages. This is news to us older hetero-sexuals, who think nothing should change from the way things were when WE were young. But the truth is, society is evolving, new information about gender identity is coming to light because people can talk about it relatively safely now. Human tolerance for genetic differences is enlarging, mainly due to scientific understanding. We don't insist left-handed children write with their rights hands anymore simply because most people are right-handed, and we understand some people are homosexual, etc. Big deal. Society isn't degenerating, it's improving. Does main-stream media put focus on the hum-drum norms of society, or the anomalies? The latter gets more views.

Kate Smyth Holly Birtwistle • Nov 29, 2017 at 00:07

Agree with you Holly that the make-up story fits more with the "gender fluidity" programme (perhaps trans-pre-sexualised rather than "standard" non-minor hyper-sexualised). However, will have to over-ride your claim to "contrarian-of-the-day" in response to your comments elsewhere: Susanna, Denyse and John have all made far more compelling arguments than you!

Wanda Sherratt • Nov 28, 2017 at 10:35

That poor kid. It's bad enough to think of what children in Hollywood experience, but to think that a child can't even be safe from this sort of sexploitation in his own home and from his own parents!

Mark, you must be thinking about your end-of-year roundup. Any chance you might revisit Justin Trudeau's fizzled "Canada 150" celebrations with a comment on their conclusion: a Canadian government so inept it can't even competently build an outdoor skating rink in Ottawa in the middle of winter? http://canada150rink.com/public-skating/

Tom Korte Wanda Sherratt • Nov 28, 2017 at 11:35

I'm not sure if the new design for the Canadian Maple Leaf is part of the 150th anniversary, but it's a fitting symbol - a hollowed out representation of what it used to be.

Wayne Lanham • Nov 28, 2017 at 10:22

A few years ago I started joking about how if a 50 something year old white man such as myself really wanted to act solely in his own best interests, he would convert to Islam because it's a far less crazy religion than the progressivism sweeping our country. However, with every passing headline, the joke gets moves away from being funny and closer to being a legitimate proposition.

Wanda Sherratt Wayne Lanham • Nov 28, 2017 at 10:39

Soon it won't be a joke. Mark's written about the increasing likelihood of conversions through peer pressure: how many people want to be the stand-out when everyone else in the office is doing group prayers and self-segregating. But I can see people converting just out of exhaustion. Islam will offer protection against this sort of hypersexualized frenzy. I'll bet a lot of people would find it a relief to be safe from this sort of of relentless bombardment of pervert sex, and would take the deal.

P. Gao • Nov 28, 2017 at 10:21

The lack of courtship structure is an outstanding point. The younger generation has been left floundering. It is very bad.For the media - many seem to have fallen over the edge, completely possessed by creepy lusts - pedal to the floor racing to destruction. Begs the question: What sleazy grooming of the under-age went on to produce the product of recent photos of young boys in National Geographic (their decade-long pathetic decline from sedate home library staple to junk mail) and TIME? Let kids have their childhood unmolested, both body and spirit.

Holly Birtwistle P. Gao • Dec 1, 2017 at 19:30

I just have the feeling all of these opinions on the "degeneration " of today's youth, and society in general, have been expressed many times over the last few thousand years of civilization.
I have faith in our youth. They'll find there way through the morass of challenges, the same as all the youth before. There is a lot of good in our society.

siberianmo • Nov 28, 2017 at 09:39

Confused is an understatement - especially when it comes to the subject of "identity."

Popeye had it right - "I (y)am what I (y)am, and that's all that I (y)am."

Tom in Missouri

Sol Cranfill • Nov 28, 2017 at 09:14

Yikes. Many children are going to have no chance to escape abnormality being hard-wired into them.

I appreciate hearing Mark make the important points. People are so susceptible to being swayed by vipers like Nancy Pelosi that each point has to be countered definitionally.

Amusing to see Conyers sauntering down the Capitol steps in his swanky duds looking like Snoop Dogg, while later getting treated to the headline that the cokehead employee/mistress of Rep. Al Green, featured in the intro of a recent Mark Steyn appearance on Fox & Friends, and who looks as wretchedly miserable as the soul singer Al Green looked happy, just tried to shake him down for $1.8 million.

Holly Birtwistle Sol Cranfill • Dec 2, 2017 at 14:32

Sol, to me "hard-wiring" is a genetic term. People are hard-wired as heterosexuals, homosexuals, and a few other gray-area sexual identities like trans-gender in very very small numbers. But they happen. A small number of people, raised ina normal family, feel opposite to their genetalia, usually from a very young age.Scientifically, we don't completely understand all the genetics involved in sexual orientation, but it's now known there are many genes involved, some involving the brain not the gentalia, and unusual recombinations of these genes can lead to anomalies like trans-gender orientations. I don't think that children are having to escape abnormality being forced on them. The NYT is newspaper putting out controversial photos and headlines. Anomalies, not majorities. Nothing new about that since media has existed. I am surrounded by normal people doing normal things in a normal neighbourhood, in a normal city. Unfazed by media content, busy living real life in the real world. Science advances, bringing new information. Genetics advances, bringing new information. Astronomy advances, bringing new information. When Newton made his discoveries, he was attacked and dis-believed, because it fundamentally changed peoples' social and world-views. But he was correct and accurate. As far as Nancy Pelosi is concerned, there are many people who are not swayed by people like her, they elected Trump:)) Always enjoy reading your comments Sol, and I always learn something.

Thanks Sol. I think you are right that abuse can cause confusion and lead to perversions. But i think the majority are genetically based. Most homosexual people were not abused. The personal stories I've read about trans-gender people, so far, did not involve abuse, but I haven't read many accounts yet. Some people consider themselves bi-sexual. Why? Were they all abused? Not all, I'm sure. From what i've heard/read so far in the science of this field, genetics are at the base of sexual orientation. But the research is in the early stages so the jury is still out. Time will tell. At any rate, I don' think the media is giving an accurate portrayal of proportions or types of gender identities, and it's all presented in terms of social impacts, without scientific opinion.